For there is no respect of persons with God

Week 8 (2-28-13)

Alrighty! So this week covered the epistle of Paul to the Romans. A brief background of Romans: it was written in 57-58 AD in the winter at the end of Paul’s 3^rd mission. Its intended audience was for all the converts in Rome, and its main purpose was to prepare these members for his visit and to ignore the teaching of the Judaizers (the Judaizers were Christians that were previously Jews which still clung to the teachings of the Law of Moses). This epistle Paul writes is described as the granddaddy of all of his epistles. It’s a pretty daunting task to pull out one thing that stuck out to me in this book; however if I had to choose it would be in Romans 2:11. It states “For there is no respect of persons with God”. Now what does this mean, that God doesn't respect us? That couldn't be farther from the truth- God loves each and every one of his children more than we can possibly love ourselves. This scripture means to me that no matter what stage of life you are at, no matter past decisions, not matter your rank in society or whether you got that A on that midterm or not: God loves you just as much as the other guy. For a while I’ll admit that the concept that God loves each and every one of his children the same amount kinda made me mad. It made me feel very unspecial and plain. However, who am I to deny the love of our Heavenly Father from other people just so I can feel special? No, I now realize that I should rejoice in the fact that others have this same love, and appreciate that we have a God that is so equal and mindful of all his creations. I implore you to accept his love and realize that it doesn't matter what race, gender, occupation or status you have, the almighty God in heaven loves you dearly.

The gift of repentance

Week 7 (2-21-13)

Can I just say how amazing the atonement is? No matter how many times we might mess up, make a stupid decision or wander away from Christ, all is not lost. In II Corinthians 5:17 Paul states that in Christ all old things are gone, and all things become new. We have the opportunity to put behind us our old sins and misdeeds and become a new and better person. Now it isn’t enough to simply say ‘I want to be a new person’, you have to firmly repent and forsake your sins. This whole repentance process: recognizing your sin, feeling godly sorrow, resolve to not return to the sin, reveal sin and make restitutions if necessary and finally release yourself from the weight of that sin is all made possible through Christ.  Elder D. Todd Christofferson stated that “repentance is a divine gift, and there should be a smile on our faces when we speak of it. It points us to freedom, confidence and peace” (‘Divine gift of Repentance’, Ensign, Nov 2011). I am very thankful for repentance in my own personal life. It has enabled me to be able to stop beating myself up because of mistakes that I’ve made, and has allowed me to strive to become a better person. Can you imagine what it would be like to always have every single wrong you might have committed weighing on your mind? It doesn’t have to be that way! Christ has suffered the pain of our sins so we can return to live with him and our Heavenly Father in heaven.  I can’t think of a more precious gift than that.  I implore any of you that are struggling, any of you who wish to become more—know that Christ loves you and that through him your sins can be made as white as snow and remembered no more. 

"quit ye like men, be strong"

Week 6 (2-16-13)

Corinthians 8-16 holds so many scripture “gems” as my professor called it, it’s hard to narrow it down and only talk about a few. Just to give a quick history about the book of Corinthians, these books are Paul’s letters to the Corinthians answering a bunch of answers that the people had. One of my favorite scriptures is found in 1 Corinthians 10:13. This one’s actually a scripture mastery (a scriptures that you have to memorize in seminary [seminary is a usually before school class Mormons attend]). Paul states that “… God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able…”.  What a source of comfort and peace this scripture can give—basically no matter what happens to you in your life, Heavenly Father has given you the strength to overcome any challenge. I find it very assuring to know that my Heavenly Father is acutely aware of all the challenges and trails that are facing me, and knows my strengths and what I am capable of. If we simply put or faith in this promise, if we trust the Lord to help guide our growth, then we can overcome anything.  In addition to the great scriptures about charity found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 there is one other scripture that stuck out to me. In his final remarks Paul in chapter 16:13 states “watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit ye like men, be strong” (in the footnotes it explains that the phrase quit ye like men means behave like men). I kind of find this verse funny and motivational. I feel that you can really kind of get a sense of the attitude and mannerism of Paul from this verse. I can just imagine him yelling something like “come on Corinthians man up!”—and while this doesn't really hold any spiritual value, for me it and makes him seem more human and the text more relatable.

Insights from Acts 20 and Brother Griffin

This week’s study consisted of Acts 19-21 and I Corinthians 1-7.  The first thing I wanted to share however didn’t come from either of these blocks of text, but from my professor at the beginning of the Wednesday lecture. He asked if ever while you were trying to pray or you were studying your scriptures that you have found that your mind had wandered, and either 20 min later you forgot you were in the middle of your prayer, or at the end of the page you couldn’t recall anything that you had just read. This has happened to me on many many many occasions. Brother Griffin then told us that sometimes we need to recognize what made our mind wander (maybe it’s a test,  your stressed about your relationship with a friend ect.) and go back to the scriptures or your prayer with that in your mind.  Just say a little prayer “Here is my question, help me find the answers in the scriptures…” and often you will be able to find answers to what is troubling your mind that way. It’s not insight I got from the scriptures this time around, but I thought it was good enough to share.  What stood out to me in this week’s reading was Paul’s response to the impending trials that awaited him in Jerusalem in chapter 20: 22-24. He is able to go forward with so much faith and trusts the Lord that even when his friends try to convince him otherwise he still proceeds to go to a city which will inevitably cause him harm. His example gives me courage to face my seemingly puny challenges in comparison with faith that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love me and will help me through.

Idols of today?

1-30-13

This week our study consisted of The Acts 17-18 and I and II Thessalonians. First off, I totally was taken by surprise when I found out that the New Testament isn’t actually in chronological order but is in order by length. When I saw that the next reading for my class was in Thessalonians I was very confused (we haven’t even finished Acts yet!).  However, Thessalonians was actually even written before the gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John (it was written from 50-52 AD).  I was taught that Thessalonians was written while Paul resided in Corinth during his second mission (Acts 18:11). One of the main things that stood out to me while reading about Paul’s second mission was the people’s problem with idolatry. When Paul visited Athens he witnessed the people had constructed an alter to the “unknown god” due to their superstition. Many cities that were described had taken to worshiping idols and the apostles even addressed the issue by declaring that one of the new requirements for Gentiles to be converted to Christianity was to abstain from meats offered to idols. Now while in today’s world there isn’t such a big problem of people offering sheep to a statue of silver or gold, it made me wonder if there is still an element of this idol worship in today’s society. I think that idols don’t necessarily have to be statues of some precious medal to be an idol, but can consist of celebrates, ideals, and even ourselves. We have to be careful to make sure those temporal things, things that only really matter in the brief time that we are here on this earth; don’t take up all of our time and energy.  There is a great talk by President Spencer W. Kimball titled “The False Gods We Worship” that illustrates examples and the consequences of worshiping idols in today’s culture.

Here’s the link:

http://www.lds.org/liahona/1977/08/the-false-gods-we-worship?lang=eng&query=idols

Continue in the faith

There are two major points that stuck out to me during the next few chapters of Acts that I’ve studied. The first comes from Acts chapter 13 verse 45. To give you context Paul/ Saul and Barnabas are preaching in the city of Antioch. After traveling to the synagogue and preaching to the Jews, the Gentiles desired to hear what they had preached the next Sabbath. The next Sabbath day rolls around and the whole city has gathered together to hear the words of the apostles. However because of the massive group of people that came the Jews “were filled with envy, and spake against those thing which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming” (Acts 13:45). Upon reflection I find that often people, including myself, can try to ruin good things out of jealously. Because someone has better grades, a boyfriend/girlfriend, strong testimony of the gospel shouldn’t mean we should try to tear them down. Instead we should be rejoicing in their success and be supporting them. Secondly, one of my favorite scriptures in the New Testament is found in Acts 14:22. After Paul has been stoned and left for dead after preaching, he meets up with other disciples and “exhort(es) them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God”. Wow! I hope that this scripture will help buoy up your spirit when you are feeling down or overwhelmed as it does for me.  I know that Heavenly Father gives us trials and challenges that will help us become the person he would like us to be, and while times might seem dismal in the present—know that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Endure. You have the strength, the capacity to become the best person you can be and fulfill the divine role you have inherited. 

My Study Of The New Testament

As I study the New Testament I would just like to share my thoughts and comments:

1-17-13

I find a great source of hope in my life with the fact that people don’t have to be members of the church or necessarily be taught the gospel in order to be good people. This is made quite evident with the story of Cornelius found in Acts 10. He was not a proselyte but simply a God fearing man. He gave alms to the poor and served his fellow man. I think often times I assume that if people aren’t members of the church then they have an excuse to act cruelty or harshly to their fellow brethren.  However this story just goes to show that even without having the fullness of the gospel, there is hope for the natural state of mankind. Throughout my academic studies questions would arise with regards to if man was born naturally evil, good, or if it was his environment that determined his moral compass. Knowing that we are all children of our Heavenly Father and that we have already displayed a vast amount of faith and righteousness with our decision to follow our fathers plan to come to this earth, it was always hard for me to think that we were born with a disposition for evil. Now the natural tendencies of man are an enemy unto God sure, however I’ve now come to the realization that we have the strength and capacity as human beings to put off this natural man and still be exemplary Disciples of Christ, even if we know almost nothing about the particulars of the gospel. Cornelius’s faith and willingness to learn from Paul about the gospel is astounding and a testament to the hope that is possible in humanity.